Georgia has been fundamentally a white/black state, with minimal ethnic diversity. Most Georgians are of English or Scotch-Irish descent. The number of Georgians who were foreign born rose dramatically between 1990 and 2000, from 173,126 (or 2.6% of the population) to 577,273 (7.1%). The 1990 figure was, in turn, a considerable increase over the 1980 total of 91,480 foreign-born Georgians and the 1970 figure of 33,000.
Between 1970 and 2000, the number of Georgians from Asia or the Pacific Islands increased from 8,838 in 1970 to 24,461 in 1980, to 76,000 in 1990, to an estimated 177,416 in 2000 (173,170 Asians and 4,246 Pacific Islanders). In 2000, Asian Indians were the largest group, with a population of 46,132, followed by Vietnamese (29,016, up from 6,284 in 1990), Koreans (28,745), and Chinese (27,446).
Georgia's black population declined from a high of 47% of the total population in 1880 to about 26% in 1970, when there were 1,187,149 blacks. Black citizens accounted for 27% of the total population and numbered 1,747,000 in 1990. In 2000, the black population was estimated at 2,349,542, or 28.7% of the state
Georgia Counties, County Seats, and County Areas and Populations
COUNTY | COUNTY SEAT | LAND AREA (SQ MI) | POPULATION (2002 EST.) | COUNTY | COUNTY SEAT | LAND AREA (SQ MI) | POPULATION (2002 EST.) |
*Atlanta city limits extend into DeKalb County | |||||||
Appling | Baxley | 510 | 17,650 | Jenkins | Millen | 353 | 8,647 |
Atkinson | Pearson | 344 | 7,712 | Johnson | Wrightsville | 307 | 8,676 |
Bacon | Alma | 286 | 10,055 | Jones | Gray | 394 | 24,492 |
Baker | Newton | 347 | 4,025 | Lamar | Barnesville | 186 | 16,442 |
Baldwin | Milledgeville | 258 | 44,787 | Lanier | Lakeland | 194 | 7,216 |
Banks | Homer | 234 | 15,123 | Laurens | Dublin | 816 | 45,890 |
Barrow | Winder | 163 | 51,016 | Lee | Leesburg | 358 | 27,382 |
Bartow | Cartersville | 456 | 82,607 | Liberty | Hinesville | 517 | 61,749 |
Ben Hill | Fitzerald | 254 | 17,450 | Lincoln | Lincolnton | 196 | 8,459 |
Berrien | Nashville | 456 | 16,285 | Long | Ludowici | 402 | 10,761 |
Bibb | Macon | 253 | 154,824 | Loundes | Valdosta | 507 | 93,658 |
Bleckley | Cochran | 219 | 11,855 | Lumpkin | Dahlonega | 287 | 22,665 |
Brantley | Nahunta | 444 | 15,060 | Macon | Oglethorpe | 404 | 14,062 |
Brooks | Quitman | 491 | 16,428 | Madison | Danielsville | 285 | 26,717 |
Bryan | Pembroke | 441 | 25,256 | Marion | Buena Vista | 366 | 7,238 |
Bulloch | Statesboro | 678 | 57,307 | McDuffie | Thomson | 256 | 21,438 |
Burke | Waynesboro | 833 | 22,794 | McIntosh | Darien | 425 | 11,150 |
Butts | Jackson | 187 | 21,346 | Meriwether | Greenville | 506 | 22,623 |
Calhoun | Morgan | 284 | 6,395 | Miller | Colquitt | 284 | 6,400 |
Camden | Woodbine | 649 | 44,702 | Mitchell | Camilla | 512 | 23,974 |
Candler | Metter | 248 | 9,764 | Monroe | Forsyth | 397 | 22,675 |
Carroll | Carrollton | 502 | 94,907 | Montgomery | Mt. Vernon | 244 | 8,397 |
Catoosa | Ringgold | 163 | 56,341 | Morgan | Madison | 349 | 16,301 |
Charlton | Folkston | 780 | 10,533 | Murray | Chatsworth | 345 | 38,544 |
Chatham | Savannah | 444 | 233,702 | Muscogee | Columbus | 218 | 185,948 |
Chattahoochee | Cusseta | 250 | 15,440 | Newton | Covington | 277 | 71,594 |
Chattooga | Summerville | 314 | 26,161 | Oconee | Watkinsville | 186 | 27,264 |
Cherokee | Canton | 424 | 159,295 | Oglethorpe | Lexington | 442 | 13,176 |
Clarke | Athens | 122 | 103,881 | Paulding | Dallas | 312 | 94,184 |
Clay | Ft. Gaines | 197 | 3,392 | Peach | Ft. Valley | 151 | 24,224 |
Clayton | Jonesboro | 148 | 252,733 | Pickens | Jasper | 232 | 25,619 |
Clinch | Homerville | 821 | 6,904 | Pierce | Blackshear | 344 | 15,982 |
Cobb | Marjetta | 343 | 651,485 | Pike | Zebulon | 219 | 14,599 |
Coffee | Douglas | 602 | 38,298 | Polk | Cedartown | 312 | 39,444 |
Colquitt | Moultrie | 556 | 42,802 | Pulaski | Hawkinsville | 249 | 9,716 |
Columbia | Appling | 290 | 94,958 | Putman | Eatonton | 344 | 19,390 |
Cook | Adel | 232 | 16,122 | Quitman | Georgetown | 146 | 2,621 |
Coweta | Newman | 444 | 97,771 | Rabun | Clayton | 370 | 15,521 |
Crawford | Knoxville | 328 | 12,509 | Randolph | Cuthbert | 431 | 7,451 |
Crisp | Cordele | 275 | 22,018 | Richmond | Augusta | 326 | 197,842 |
Dade | Trenton | 176 | 16,615 | Rockdale | Conyers | 132 | 73,558 |
Dawson | Dawsonville | 210 | 17,538 | Schley | Ellaville | 169 | 3,975 |
Decatur | Bainbridge | 586 | 28,243 | Screven | Sylvania | 655 | 15,201 |
DeKalb | Decatur | 270 | 676,996 | Seminole | Donalsonville | 225 | 9,310 |
Dodge | Eastman | 504 | 19,047 | Spalding | Griffin | 199 | 59,410 |
Dooly | Vienna | 397 | 11,505 | Stephens | Toccoa | 177 | 25,712 |
Dougherty | Albany | 330 | 95,875 | Stewart | Lumpkin | 452 | 5,040 |
Douglas | Douglasville | 203 | 98,650 | Sumter | Americus | 488 | 33,247 |
Early | Blakely | 516 | 12,172 | Talbot | Talbotton | 395 | 6,713 |
Echols | Statenville | 420 | 3,842 | Taliaferro | Crawfordville | 196 | 1,977 |
Effingham | Springfield | 482 | 40,832 | Tattnall | Reidsville | 484 | 22,560 |
Elbert | Elberton | 367 | 20,667 | Taylor | Butler | 382 | 8,913 |
Emanuel | Swainsboro | 688 | 22,099 | Telfair | MacRae | 444 | 11,780 |
Evans | Claxton | 186 | 11,095 | Terrell | Dawson | 337 | 10,871 |
Fannin | Blue Ridge | 384 | 20,986 | Thomas | Thomasville | 551 | 42,976 |
Fayette | Fayetteville | 199 | 96,611 | Tift | Tifton | 268 | 39,338 |
Floyd | Rome | 519 | 92,606 | Toombs | Lyons | 371 | 26,388 |
Forsyth | Cumming | 226 | 116,924 | Towns | Hiawassee | 165 | 9,768 |
Franklin | Carnesville | 264 | 20,778 | Treutlen | Soperton | 202 | 6,837 |
Fulton | Atlanta* | 534 | 825,431 | Troup | La Grange | 415 | 59,767 |
Gilmer | Ellijay | 427 | 25,203 | Turner | Ashburn | 289 | 9,691 |
Glascock | Gibson | 144 | 2,598 | Twiggs | Jeffersonville | 362 | 10,545 |
Glynn | Brunswick | 412 | 69,036 | Union | Blairsville | 320 | 18,275 |
Gordon | Calhoun | 355 | 46,531 | Upson | Thomaston | 326 | 27,773 |
Grady | Cairo | 459 | 23,838 | Walker | La Fayette | 446 | 61,949 |
Greene | Greensboro | 390 | 15,101 | Walton | Monroe | 330 | 67,069 |
Gwinnett | Lawrenceville | 435 | 650,771 | Ware | Waycross | 970 | 35,558 |
Habersham | Clarkesville | 278 | 37,979 | Warren | Warrenton | 286 | 6,211 |
Hall | Gainesville | 379 | 152,235 | Washington | Sandersville | 683 | 20,803 |
Hancock | Sparta | 469 | 10,026 | Wayne | Jesup | 647 | 27,062 |
Haralson | Buchanan | 283 | 26,755 | Webster | Perston | 210 | 2,315 |
Harris | Hamilton | 464 | 25,092 | Wheeler | Alamo | 299 | 6,183 |
Hart | Hartwell | 230 | 23,249 | White | Cleveland | 242 | 21,904 |
Heard | Franklin | 292 | 11,340 | Whitefield | Dalton | 291 | 87,037 |
Henry | McDonough | 321 | 139,699 | Wilcox | Abbeville | 382 | 8,529 |
Houston | Perry | 380 | 116,768 | Wilkes | Washington | 470 | 10,734 |
Irwin | Ocilla | 362 | 9,945 | Wilkinson | Irwinton | 451 | 10,357 |
Jackson | Jefferson | 342 | 45,374 | Worth | Sylvester | 575 | 21,767 |
Jasper | Monticello | 371 | 12,283 | ———— | ————— | ||
Jeff Davis | Hazlehurst | 335 | 12,910 | TOTALS | 58,056 | 8,560,310 | |
Jefferson | Louisville | 529 | 17,138 |
total, and the 3rd-largest black population among the 50 states. Atlanta, which had 255,689 black residents (61.4%) in 2000, has been a significant center for the development of black leadership, especially at Atlanta University. With its long-established black elite, Atlanta has also been a locus for large black-owned business enterprises. There are elected and appointed blacks in the state government, and in 1973, Atlanta elected its first black mayor, Maynard Jackson. By 1984 there were 13 black mayors, including Andrew J. Young of Atlanta.
The American Indian population in Georgia was estimated to be 21,737 in 2000. The great Cherokee nation and other related tribes had been effectively removed from the state 150 years earlier. About 5.3% of the population (435,227 people) were of Hispanic or Latino origin as of 2000.